Basket.



1. A.` GRENLEE & H. WEGWART.

Y BASKET. APPLICATIONA FIL'nl MAY 2o. Isle.

5 Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

J. A. GREENLEE I H. WEGWART.

BASKET.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20. I9Is.

Patented Feb. 11, i919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

.RAM

JAMES A. 4GREENLEE, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND HERMAN WEcWAnT, or BURLING- TON, WISCONSIN, AsSIGNons rre fri-IE C. e W PACKAGE coIvrrANY, on CHICAGO,

ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

BASKET.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, JAMES A. GREENLEE and HERMAN WEGWART, citizens of the United States, and residents of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, and the city of Burlington, Racine county, and State of lVisconsin, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Baskets, of which the following is a speciication.

Our present invention relates to baskets or similar receptacles, and particularly baskets fabricated of splints or veneer and Woven Or interwoven on what is commonly known as the diamond splint principle or basket Weave. The primary object of our present invention is the provision of a basket that is reinforced so that it shall be capable of withstanding all the usual strainsbr tor sions put upon it when employed in shipping commodities, and at the same time will retain the flexibility which lends to this variety of structure its peculiar strength, and also it is desirable to secure the reinforcement with the addition with as little eXtra Weight as possible.

Baskets woven of crossed or interwoven splints and provided with the usual upper rim are usually Well adapted for conveying articles or commodities when the container or receptacle is carried upon the arm of the user. When, however, these Woven baskets are stacked the one upon the other, the weight of the upper baskets upon the lower baskets will squeeze or push out or bulge the portions of the splints forming the sides and ends of the baskets to an extent'where the splints will be damaged and will not recover their original form after the weight has been removed. The stacking of the baskets will also frequently cause the upper ends of the splints to break away from the rim which wil-l result in a loss of the commodities contained within the basket, as Well as leave the basket unhandy and cumbersome for future handling. Also in the shipment of commodities, such as sides or shoulders of bacon and other long and narrow articles, when the baskets are packed and being handled the persons doing so fre quently carry them end down, thus permitting the commodities to settle toward oneV end and the entire weight of the contents is then disposed against and borne by the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. Ml, 1919.

Serial No. 235,744.

splints at the lower end of the basket, which, of course, strains and weakens and frequently breaks the splints away from their fastening.

It is one of the objects of our invention to provide a reinforcing for a splint or woven basket that will strengthen the basket at its ends or Sides, or both, without interfering with the original flexibility of the structure, and will prevent the strain incident to the stacking of a number of baskets from 'bulging or weakening the splints beyond their power of recovery. It is also an object of our invention to provide means in a splint basket whereby, when it is carried one end down, the splints at the lower end will be protected and reinforced so as to prevent their tearing away from their securing means. It is a further Object of our invention to provide a reinforcing dovice that is dependable and capable of supporting a considerable Weight, yet fabricated from relatively thin and inexpensive material. Other objects are the provision of a shipping basket of the splint type that shall be economical to manufacture and dependable in carrying` out the functions for which it is designed.

7We prefer to accomplish the divers objects of our invention in substantially the manner and by the means hereinafter fully described and as more particularly pointed out in the claims, reference now being' had to th-e accompanying dra-wings that forni a part of this specification, wherein,-

Figure l is a central longitudinal sect-ion of a basket constructed in Vaccordance with the principles .of our invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section thereof taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l, showing` the basket compressed. i

Fig. L is an outside end view of a modilied disposition of the reinforcing member.

Referringto the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, it will be observed the basket preferably consists of a body portion formed ofinterwoven splints, the splints being crossed and Woven together in 4what `is commonly called the basket weave, or what is known bythe trade name of diamond braiding. This braiding may be done with single crossed splints, in the manner of ordinary basket structures, or

the splits may be ot' a double weaving to provide two bodies interwoven at their ends or corners, as disclosed in our prior Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,153,096, issued to us September 2l, 1915, for improvements in a basket. For the purpose ot clearness, however, we have shown the braiding done with single crossed splints 5 and 6.

A suitable frame is provided, consisting of end pieces and longitudinal side pieces 8, that surround and have the upper ends ot the splints secured thereto by tacking, stai pling, or in any other suitable manner. The inner portions of the upper edges of the splints are bound by a. suitable thin strip ot' material 9, that is secured in position by tacks, nails or staples, that are driven through the same and through said splints into the outside trame.

In order to reinforce and -to render more stable the body of the basket, we have provided suitable aprons 10-10 that are secured adjacent their upper ends to the upper portions ot the basket and extend down alongside the walls thereof. Divers dispo sitions of these aprons may be made; for example, as shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3, they are positioned inside the basket at the ends thereof and are secured between the inner binding strip 9, and the splints are of a length or height to have their lower edges disposed adjacent to the bottom of the basket, where the corner edges begin to curve under so as to limit the amount of compressibility to which the woven splints will bc subjected.

It may be found desirable to position these aprons upon the inside of the longitudinal sides of the basket, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l of the drawing, in which event they will be secured to the side of the basket between the retaining` strips 9 and the upper ends of the splints. A still further disposition of these aprons may be made by placing them upon the exterior ot' the ends ol the baskets, as shown in Fig. il, in which event -they will preferably be inserted between the outer surfaces of the splints and the usual longitudinally disposed runners l1 that extend along the bottom and up the ends of the basket.

From the above it will be seen that when the basket is positioned upon its bottom and additional weight placed upon the top, such as would result from stacking a number of loaded baskets, the bottom baskets will Hatten until the lower edge of the apron comes into Contact with the portion of the basket disposed upon the support and said a rons will take up the remaining stress to w iich the basket will be subjected and thereby limit the displacement of the splints as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. These aprons are usually made of veneer or strips of wood of divers thicknesses and, owing to their substantially vertical disposition, they are capable of supporting a greater amount of pressure or weight than the thinner splints would be.

We desire i-t understood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise location of these aprons with respect to `the walls ofthe basket structure, nor to the type of braiding or weaving the splints, for it is quite obvious that divers changes or alterations `may be made without materially departingfromfthe spirit of our invention. lVe therefore de sire it understood that such changes or modifications may be made without materially departing from the principles of our invention as expressed in the appended claims.

What we claim is :-l

l. A basket or like receptacle comprising a woven body portion consisting of a bottom, side walls and end walls, and an apron secured only to the upper portion of one of said walls and terminating a slight distance above said bottom said apron being wide enough to take the thrust of thecontents of said basket.

2. A basket or like receptacle comprising a flexible woven body portion consisting-ot a bottom, side walls and end walls, and op positely disposed aprons Vpositioned insidesaid basket and secured only to the Vupper portions of said walls, the -lower edges of said aprons termin-ating slight distances above said 'bottom said aprons being wide enough to take the thrust ofthe contents of the basket and thereby limit the iexibility of said walls.

3. A basket or like receptacle comprising a body of woven flexible splints, a frame to which the `upper edges of said body are secured, and aprons only the upper portions whereof are secured to said frame and the lower portions depend inside and adjacent the sidewalls of said body said aprons being wide enough to take the outward thrust of the contents of said basket.

4Signed at Chicago, county of'Cook and .State of Illinois, this 16th day off May '1918.

JAMES A. GRE-ENLEE. HERMAN WEGWART. lVitnesses:

E. K. LUNDY, Jr., H. SLACK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

